(a) Field of the Invention
This application relates to a system and mechanism for capturing the products of combustion to produce useful work. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a system that uses gas or air stratification to pressurize and mobilize gasses in order to distribute them to locations where the mobilized gasses are used to perform useful work.
(b) Discussion of Known Art
There are many known examples of internal combustion engines that use what is referred to as “charge stratification”. Charge stratification as used in these engines typically refers to the provision of a relatively small, segregated, combustion chamber where combustion takes place. The use of this segregated combustion chamber allows combustion to be initiated in a confined space where a rich mixture can be created with less fuel than what is needed in the cylinder of traditional piston engines, where the combustion mixture is created between the piston and the valves of the engine, which creates a larger volume than what is used in the segregated chamber of stratified charge engines.
Another approach at using combustion gasses is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,983,405 to Schmidt, which discloses the use of an explosion in an elongated combustion chamber to create propulsion forces, such as the forces used to propel aircraft.
Air stratification is often witnessed in large, vertically open areas, where temperature gradients are observed as strata or layers of air. These stratified layers of air demonstrate that mixing of air often does not occur without some mechanical assistance, such as with a fan.
Accordingly, the fact that air, or similar gasses, can be stratified has not been fully exploited for the purpose of creating an internal combustion engine.